About 650 species of Morning Glories (Ipomoea sp., family Convolvulaceae) are distributed across the world's tropical and subtropical regions, and more than 300 species come from the Americas alone. Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. is the common sweet potato. Most species of Ipomoea are vines, a small group of Neotropical species are small trees, but most have characteristic funnel-shaped flowers that open in early morning and last a single day. The genus Ipomoea has afforded glycoresins which are usually composed of a few sugars and one or more long chain fatty acid(s). (Noda, N.; Ono, M.; Miyahara, K.; Kawasaki, T.; Okabe, M., Tetrahedron 1987, 43, 3889-3902; Noda, N.; Tsuji, K.,; Miyahara, K.; Yang, C. R., Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1994, 42, 2011-2016; Pereda-Miranda, R.; Mata, R.; Anaya, A. L.; Wickramaratne, D. B. M.; Pezzuto, J. M.; Kinghorn, A. D., J. Nat. Prod. 1993, 56, 571-582; Bah, M.; Pereda-Miranda, R., Tetrahedron 1996, 52, 13063-13080; Bah, M.; Pereda-Miranda, R., Tetrahedron 1997, 53, 9007-9022; Hernandez-Carlos, B.; Bye, R.; Pereda-Miranda, R., J. Nat. Prod. 1999, 62, 1096-1100; Barnes, C. C.; Smalley, M. K.; Manfredi, K. P.; Kindscher, K.; Loring, H.; Sheeley, D. M., J. Nat. Prod., 2003, 66, 1457-1462; Leon, I.; Enriquez, R. G., Gnecco, D., Villarreal, M. L., Cortes, D. A.; Reynolds, W. F.; Yu, M, J. Nat. Prod., 2004, 67, 1552-1556.) The purgative properties of some Ipomoea sp. are due to the presence of glycolipids in their resins. Noda (1987), supra; Bah (1996), supra. It has been reported that Ipomoea leptophylla showed activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. (Barnes et al, supra.) Ipomoea squamosa Choisy is a vine that is widespread in the Neotropics. The constituents of Morning Glories have been recently reviewed. (Pereda-Miranda, R., Bah, M., Curr. Top. Med. Chem., 2003, 3, 111-131.)
By way of background, other Ipomoea plant materials are being studied. See Leon, I.; Enriquez, R. G.; Nieto, D. A.; Alonso, D.; Reynolds, W. F.; Aranda, E. and Villa, J., Pentasaccharide glyosides from the roots of Ipomoea murocoides, J. Nat. Prod. 2005, 68, 1141-1146. See also Umehara, K.; Nemoto, K; Ohkubo, T.; Miyase, T.; Degawa, M.; Noguchi, H., Planta Medica 2004, 70, 299-304.